GOP criticizes Donnelly on taxes

Attack follows polls showing tight race.

Attack follows polls showing tight race.

July 26, 2006|JAMES WENSITS Tribune Political Writer

SOUTH BEND -- GOP County Chairman Chris Faulkner took Democratic congressional candidate Joe Donnelly to task Tuesday, saying the contender put money into his campaign instead of using it to pay his taxes. Faulkner was responding to a story in Tuesday's Tribune about Donnelly having paid property taxes on his Granger residence, as well as on a lakeside vacation home in Michigan City, late several times over the past several years. The earlier story drew a response from Shaw Friedman, Donnelly campaign general chairman, who noted that Donnelly has two children in college and owns a small business. "Like many small-businessmen and women, Joe gets cash flow at different times in the year, and for the past several years property taxes have hit him at a rough time," Friedman said. The "bottom line," according to Friedman, is that taxpayers were not hurt because of Donnelly paying taxes, interest and late fees after the due date. Faulkner contended that Donnelly had an obligation to pay his taxes on time. Instead, Faulkner said, Donnelly's campaign finance reports indicate that Donnelly was contributing over $120,000 to his campaign while he was past due on his property taxes. "Clearly, it is a question of priorities," said Faulkner, who asserted that Donnelly chose to fund his campaign instead of paying his property taxes on time. The Republican chairman likened Donnelly's action to asking taxpayers to co-sign on a loan for his congressional campaign. "What's more important, running for Congress or paying your taxes on time?" Faulkner asked. Asked if he was saying that Donnelly should not have run for Congress, Faulkner said Donnelly chose to take a portion of the money he should have used to pay his taxes and "funneled that money into his campaign account." The comments came in the wake of a poll taken by The Tribune and WSBT-TV which indicated that Donnelly and Chocola are in a tight race. According to the poll, Donnelly leads Chocola 46 percent to 41 percent, with 13 percent undecided and a margin for error of plus-or-minus 5 percent. An earlier poll released by the Donnelly campaign showed the Granger Democrat ahead of the incumbent. "I have paid all these property taxes," Donnelly said Tuesday. "In fact, I have actually overpaid taxes in LaPorte County at this time." "It's very telling that in the same week two polls show our campaign with a solid lead, the national Republican Party resorts to these types of attacks," added Katie Nee, Donnelly campaign spokeswoman. "We're confident that the people of the 2nd District are interested in hearing about how we will change the direction of our country and make lives better for working families in Indiana," Nee said.Staff writer James Wensits: jwensits@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6353